Heritage Preserved
Learning Center
Construction
Rescuing historic
African-American homes
Officials welcome support
See Metro section, inside
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See Metro section, inside
nrtlanh
‘City of Roses’
Established in 1970
T,Weekin
TheReview
Election Turnout Heavy
Bush and challenger John Kerry
fought to the wire in their long,
bitter race for the White House
on Tuesday as Americans turned
out in droves to choose between
their em battled wartime presi­
dent and a Democrat who vigor­
ously questioned the invasion
of Iraq. Pre-election surveys in­
dicated the presidential race
could be as close as 2000.
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXIV • Number 43
Wednesday • November 3, 2004
PORTRAIT
Arafat's Health Improves
Y asser A ra fa t's health has im ­
proved enough for him to un­
dergo tests he co u ld n ’t have
stood before, and the P alestin ­
ian leader w as follow ing the
U.S. presidential election, his
aides said.
Teen Sniper Gets
Life in Prison
Teenage sniper Lee Boyd Mai vo
avoided the death penalty and
was sentenced to life in prison
without parole under a plea deal
for one o f 10 slayings that terror­
ized the W ashington area in
October 2002.
Hostage Deadline
Approaches
The kidnappers o f aid w orker
M argaret Hassan threatened to
turn herovcrtoan al-Qaida affili­
ated group within 48 hours if the
British government refuses to
pull its troops from Iraq, Al-
Jazeera television reported.
Justices Debate
Prison Segregation
The Supreme Court took up a
racial segregation case that asks
if black California inmates are
being unconstitutionally bunked
together for months at a time, in
the name of keeping prisons safe.
The Bush adm inistration has
sided with a black convicted
killer w ho claim s he has been
hum iliated by forcec' prison
segregation.
PHOTO BY
M ichael
R cbenstein /
T he P ortland
O bserver
Dignity Village resident Patricia Cook is 71 years old =>nd lives in a community built shanty near the Portland Airport o ff Northeast 33rd Avenue
Inside Portland's
homeless camp
by J aymee R. C irri
T he P ortland O bserver
They were tired o f being harassed by
police and the city 's anti-homeless poli­
cies. They were fearful of being victims to
thieves and perverse predators. They were
frustrated by operations at overburdened
shelters with rules that kept couples sepa­
rated and families apart.
Portland’s homeless w eren’t getting re­
spect and they w eren’t going to take it
anymore. On Dec. 16,2000 Dignity Village
was bom as a group o f eight homeless men
and women in five tents near downtown
Portland.
Today, the village has grown to a capac­
ity o f 60 residents on a parcel of land near the
Portland Airport off Northeast 33rd Avenue.
What began as a cluster of tents became
shanty structures and now, quaint and sem i­
permanent straw bale houses are being built
with mostly donated materials.
“ W e’re kind o f evolving," said Tim
McCarthy, who has lived at Dignity Village
for three years.
McCarthy, 56, became homeless after los­
ing hisjob managing aconvenience store for
health reasons. He is the outreach coordina­
tor at Dignity Village. W hile everyone has
responsibilities in the collective-style com ­
munity, from security to building crew to
council seat to garden tender, McCarthy
says he chose to work in outreach for a
deliberate reason.
“I hate stereotypes,” he said. “People
think if you’re homeless you d o n 't have an
education or are addicted to drinking or
drugs and that’s not the case.”
McCarthy studied accounting and busi­
ness at Ohio State and the Toledo Univer­
sity.
D ig n ity V illa g e h a s o c c u p ie d
S underland Y ard, a city-ow ned leaf-
com posting facility for three years. It
does not possess a lease to the land and
is by no m eans co n fid en t about the
lo catio n ’s perm anence.
The Dignity Village Council has pro­
posed to enter into a long-term lease with
the city, promising safe and ecological tran­
sitional housing with access to showers,
toilets, com puters and a home for 60 hom e­
less residents at a time.
The cam p’s aesthetic is artistic and eclec­
tic, with environmental policy in mind. Com ­
mon areas reflect the village’s cultural diver­
sity through decorative and creative archi­
tecture. Residents may eat crops from the
common garden and eggs from the chicken
coup. They cook on barbecues or wood-
burning stoves and propane heats water for
showers and cooking. The half-acre plot is
abuzz wi th bui Iding projects and green reno­
vations to help achieve the goal o f creating
an ecologically sustainable environment.
continued
yf
on page AS
British May Spank
A fter a passionate debate in
the H ouse o f C om m ons, B rit­
ish la w m ak e rs v o te d o v e r­
w helm ingly against banning
parents from spanking their
children. Som e law m akers ar­
gued that even m ild spanking
should be outlaw ed and in­
sisted children should have the
sam e legal protection as adults
w hen it com es to being hit.
Closing Arguments
for Peterson
Prosecutors failed to prove that
Scott Peterson m urdered his
pregnant wife, Laci, and were
te 11 i ng j urors, “don' t bothe r w i t h
the five months o f evidence,” a
defense attorney said Tuesday.
Untold Tragedy in Sudan
Local refugees
say crisis more
widespread
by J aymee R. C uti
T he P ortland O bserver
A northeast P ortland resident is re­
turning to his native land this w eek to
w itness atrocities against his people by
its own governm ent.
M ayak B ilk u e i, a re fu g e e fro m
S ud an ’s Ruw eng C ounty, will collect
data and take interview s from R uw eng’s
residents, many o f whom he says hide in
bushes and along riverbanks since their
villages w ere burned dow n by m ilitia
forces.
Bilkuei plans to stay in Ruw eng until
January, at w hich tim e he w ants to c o n ­
front the C an ad ian T alism an C orp.,
w hich drills oil from Sudan. T hat oil is
then sold on the open m arket to Russia,
C hina and M alaysia. Som e have raised
the issue that R uw eng C ounty has been
a focus o f A rab m ilitia aggression b e­
cause o f greed o ver its oil-rich land
“A lot o f people have been dying
through disease, hunger and so forth,”
said Bilkuei, w ho has been living in
Portland for the past nine years.
C oping with w ar, rape, forced d islo ca­
tion, fires and a lack o f sanitary w ater has
becom e the norm for the people o f Ruweng
C ounty in southern Sudan.
T o date, no relief effo rts or
supplies have reached Ruw eng
C ounty.
He estim ates death tolls in the
hundreds o f thousands since the
beginning o f the war.
From Portland, Bilkuei and
Dudi are organizing Sudanese
refugees in the United States and
garnering the assistance o f ag en ­
cies or individuals that may help
research the genocide and d e­
m and action from federal ag en ­
cies.
Jen n ifer D oncan, a teacher at
Jefferson High School, is am ong
the few allies o f the people o f
Ruweng County. She spreads the
m essage o f Ruw eng people in
n e e d d u r in g th e s c h o o l ’s
M ulticultural Film Festival se­
ries.
"T he m edia gives the im pres­
sion that (Sudanese) people are
killing each oth er but it's the oil
th a t's causing this huge p ro b ­
lem ," D oncan said.
Before and after show ing films
on the first Monday o f the month,
photo by M ark W ashington / T he P ortland O bserver
>ch Dudi (left) and Mayak Bilkuei are refuges from Sudan's Ruweng County, living in
through May, D oncan discusses
rtheast Portland. They are bringing local attention to the plight of Sudanese people.
th e h u m a n ita r ia n c r is i s in
Ruw eng C ounty with the public.
Ruw eng C ounty has been under siege
Bilkuei and Dudi still have fam ily living
Koch Dudi, room m ate to Bilkuei, w ho is
by its governm ent since its first attack by also a Ruweng County refugee. “ People
in RuwCng C ounty, whom they co m m u n i­
the m ilitia in 1983.
are living with disease and dying from no cate with only if their relatives travel to
"N o one is talking about our area being
safe w ater since the beginning o f war,
continued
on page AS
victim because there is oil th ere,” said
but no civil agency has gone th ere."
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